Cause For Concern
April 27, 2005 09:46 AM | General
April 27, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There isn’t a coach in college football today that doesn’t have concerns about his team heading into the summer and Rich Rodriguez is no exception.
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| This spring Vaughn Rivers was moved from the secondary to help bolster the wide receiver corps.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The fifth-year coach points to the fact that his quarterback for the 2005 season opener at Syracuse in the Carrier Dome will be a first-time starter. He also brings up the fact that his staff must find a replacement for first-round draft pick Pacman Jones at corner and also has to come up with a pair of starting linebackers to fill in for seniors Adam Lehnortt and Scott Gyorko. The kicking game will certainly be on his mind all summer long, too.
But the area that is the single greatest concern for Rodriguez is wide receiver, where he says not a single player this spring really stepped to the forefront and distinguished himself.
“Right now I could not name you a starting wide receiver -- a guy that we could play in a game,” Rodriguez said recently.
Senior Brandon Myles and junior Ray Bolden are two leading candidates to land starting jobs, but both have had inconsistent careers to this point. Myles possesses decent size and speed and got off to a good start in 2004, catching a 51-yard pass against East Carolina in the season opener and snaring a 57-yard touchdown pass at Central Florida. However, in the team’s remaining 10 games he managed to catch just four more passes.
Complicating things for Myles is the fact that he must work to get back to 100 percent by the time fall camp opens.
“Brandon Myles is having hernia surgery and he’ll be okay but he missed most of the spring,” said Rodriguez.
Bolden is a big target (6-feet-4 inches and 220 pounds) that could be a factor in the passing game working the hashes and sidelines. He appeared in five games last year and caught one pass for 49 yards in the Gator Bowl against Florida State, but he must become a more polished player to earn the trust and confidence of Rodriguez and receivers coach Butch Jones.
“Ray Bolden was inconsistent but he has the talent to do it,” Rodriguez said.
Ideally, Rodriguez would love to have five or six capable receivers to make up his wide receiver rotation but the coach admitted after spring drills that they’re not even close to being there yet.
“We have guys that will have to go out there but we need to develop five to six reliable and what we call starting wide receivers. We’re hoping our upperclassmen will have a great summer,” Rodriguez said.
If no other viable candidates emerge in the fall, Rodriguez said he would consider altering his schemes and formations to get the best 11 on the field.
“We’ve got to run our system but we’ve also got to be smart and get our best guys on the field,” he said. “We may not be able to do as much spread stuff as far as formation wise unless we move another tailback out there or flex a tight end or do something like that that we haven’t done a lot of in the past.
“We’ve got to play to our strengths and we kind of have a plan to go both ways,” Rodriguez said. “The first two weeks of August we’ll have a pretty good feel -- where are our best 11 and who are best 15-16 offensive players and how do we get them onto the field and yet still cause some problems for the defense.”
In an effort to bolster the receiver corps, Rodriguez moved cornerback Vaughn Rivers to slot receiver midway through the spring. Rivers caught the coaching staff’s attention last year as a punt and kick returner and overall playmaker. Rivers isn’t very big standing 5-feet-9 inches and weighing 170 pounds, but he does have outstanding speed.
“Right now he still doesn’t know what he’s doing but with just a little bit I saw I’m sure with a couple of days of practice in the fall Vaughn could get one of those positions down,” said the coach.
Rodriguez doesn’t foresee any additional position switches from defense to offense.
“The Rivers move is going to be permanent,” Rodriguez said. “I think we’ve found a home for him and I think it’s going to work out great. But there is really nobody else defensively we will move over. The only exception may be (quarterback) Dwayne Thompson who I think can contribute right away and help us at the wide receiver position and he’s done that before. That would be an easy move.”
Other receivers getting a lot of reps this spring included Joe Hunter, Tito Gonzales, Dorrell Jalloh and Travis McClintic. Those four will have to continue to progress this summer to get into the mix this fall.
Rodriguez says newcomers will also get a close look this fall, too.
“We might have to rely on some newcomers to give us some immediate help there and hopefully they will,” he said.
